01 / Work sample
Scan It campaign concept
I designed the campaign presentation to explain how our interview findings led to Scan It and the campus activation we proposed to Platform.
Consumer Research & Experiential PR
Platform: Scan It
Platform was an early-stage modular footwear startup that partnered with students in UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business course, Innovations in Communications and Public Relations, for a live client project.
Translated 12 interviews into a modular-footwear campaign concept and a campus QR prototype with 51 click-throughs.
- Role
- Research, strategy, and presentation design
- Project
- Platform: Scan It
- Timeline
- 2023
- Focus
- Primary research / positioning / experiential prototype
- Tools & methods
- Ethnographic interviews · QR activation · Campaign strategy · Presentation design
- Collaboration
- Collaborative campaign team
01 / The challenge
What needed
to be solved.
Platform had a modular footwear product to introduce and needed a clear reason for people to pay attention to an unfamiliar brand. Our team’s job was to understand what potential customers found interesting and use that insight to develop a campaign for the startup.
I began with 12 ethnographic interviews. Modularity emerged as the strongest differentiator, so we built our strategy around it and developed a campus prototype that let people move from a printed shoe or card to a website.
02 / My role
What I contributed.
My contribution
I conducted 12 interviews, helped the team decide which product difference to lead with, and designed the presentation explaining our recommendation. I connected what we heard in the research to the campaign we proposed to Platform.
Working as a campaign team
We compared three concepts, gathered feedback, and developed the large-shoe and QR-card ideas together. We then tested printed materials on Berkeley’s campus to see whether people would follow them to the prototype website.
Project scope
A 2023 live client project for Platform, an early-stage modular footwear startup, through UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Our deliverables included research, campaign strategy, and an initial campus prototype; the multi-stage scavenger hunt remained a proposed next iteration.
03 / The approach
Decisions behind the work.
- 01
Listen before choosing the message
I used 12 ethnographic interviews to understand how people made sense of the footwear and what caught their attention. Modularity stood out in those conversations. That gave us a reason to focus the campaign on the ability to build and change the shoe.
- 02
Let the research shape the creative
Our team compared three campaign concepts and gathered feedback. Style and sustainability were familiar footwear messages; showing the shoe assembled and separated into modules made its particular appeal easier to explain. I helped turn that research into the argument behind our final presentation.
- 03
Make the product noticeable on campus
The Sproul noticeboard was crowded with flyers, so our team tested a large printed shoe with QR codes around its edges. The scale gave the product room to stand out, and the codes gave a passerby a direct route to the website. It was a practical way to test a physical campaign idea with the materials we had.
- 04
Try a second way to invite a scan
We also placed smaller QR cards around campus, including water stations and bathroom stalls. Those cards gave us a different creative treatment to test: a surreal image with very little explanation. Both formats led to a website; a connected scavenger-hunt journey remained a proposed next iteration.
04 / Execution
A closer look at the work.
Our campaign presentation and the printed materials we tested on Berkeley’s campus.
02 / Work sample
Research-backed positioning
We used feedback on three concepts to decide what the campaign should emphasize. I helped make the case for modularity by connecting the product’s removable parts to what we had heard in interviews.
- Product distinction: we showed the shoe assembled and as individual modules so the difference was visible.
- Creative direction: we proposed a large physical display to give the modular shoe room to stand out on campus.
03 / Original campus prototype documentation
A physical prompt for product discovery
We took the concept out of the presentation and placed a large printed shoe on a Sproul noticeboard. QR codes around its edges invited people to explore the test website on their phones.
- Scale: the printed shoe occupies more space than nearby flyers.
- Action: QR codes let a passerby move from the board to the website on a phone.
04 / Original QR-card prototype
Testing curiosity at a smaller scale
We also tested small cards with a futuristic image and QR code. They offered very little explanation before the scan, giving us a second way to explore curiosity about the campaign.
- Low information: the card leaves the product unexplained before the scan.
- Next test: compare this curiosity-led treatment with a clear modular-footwear message.
05 / Prototype validation
What the prototype showed.
- 12
- Ethnographic interviews
- 51
- Prototype click-throughs
- 3
- Form submissions in initial testing
Prototype validation: Initial testing generated 51 click-throughs and 3 form submissions. Because exposure by placement wasn’t tracked separately, I treated these as early engagement signals rather than conversion-rate evidence.
06 / Reflection
What I learned.
My takeaway
This project let me see an interview finding become a creative decision. Once modularity emerged as the detail people found distinctive, I could explain why our campaign should show the shoe’s parts and how they fit together. The research gave me a stronger basis for discussing the idea with the team and presenting it to the client.
Taking the concept onto campus also changed the questions I asked. A presentation could explain the whole idea; a passerby had only the printed shoe or card to decide whether to scan. The 51 click-throughs and three submissions gave us an initial response to work with and a reason to test the message and placement more carefully.
What I would improve next
I would give each placement its own trackable QR link and compare the curiosity-led card with a version that explains modular footwear before the scan. That would show which message and location brought useful interest before we expanded the activation.